Billy Curtis(1909-1988)

Diminutive American actor Billy Curtis avoided the usual onus of freak-show employment as a youth, opting for a mainstream job as a shoe clerk. Encouraged by stock company actressShirley Boothto take a little person role in a stage production, Curtis soon became a professional actor, with numerous Broadway musical productions to his credit. Curtis' big movie season was 1938-39: he was cast inThe Wizard of Oz (1939)(albeit with voice dubbed byPinto Colvig) and as the cowboy hero of the all-dwarf westernThe Terror of Tiny Town (1938).This last epic was one of the few instances that Curtis was cast as a good guy; many of his screen characters were ill-tempered and pugnacious, willing to bite a kneecap if unable to punch out an opponent. Seldom accepting a role which demeaned or patronized little people, Curtis played an obnoxious vaudeville performer compelled to sit onGary Cooper's lap inMeet John Doe (1941),a suspicious circus star willing to turnRobert Cummingsover to the cops inSaboteur (1942),and one of the many fair-weather friends ofThe Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).Billy Curtis' career thrived into the 1970s, notably with solid parts in theClint EastwoodwesternHigh Plains Drifter (1973)and the crime-caper melodramaLittle Cigars (1973),in which he had second billing as a diminutive criminal mastermind. Billy Curtis retired in the 1980s, except for the occasional interview or Wizard of Oz cast reunion.